The State of Product Management in Journalism: 2025 Census
We’re excited to share the results of the 2025 News Product Alliance Census, our global survey of 500+ product thinkers across 69 countries and 305 organizations. This is our most comprehensive look yet at how product practices are shaping the future of journalism.
When we first surveyed product professionals in 2020, few held formal titles, influence was limited, and organizational support was rare. Five years later, the field looks very different: product is increasingly recognized as central to editorial, audience, and business strategy.
42% of respondents from newsrooms hold formal product positions, and another 47% perform product work informally, connecting editorial, audience, and business priorities.
67% of respondents report their organization has an official product team; 45% report a dedicated product executive.
More than 60% of respondents have direct influence or final say on organizational strategy, budget and purchasing decisions.
The Census shows real progress but also highlights the uneven pace of change and the risks ahead if organizations don’t invest in the people leading this transformation. Beyond efficiency or alignment, product management is increasingly about answering journalism’s biggest question: what makes journalism essential in people’s lives today?
This is where product maturity connects to journalism’s future. By combining structure (formal teams and leadership support) with influence (strategic decision-making), newsrooms aren’t just optimizing workflows, they’re building the capacity to define their value, design services around audience needs, and ensure journalism remains relevant and trusted.
Key Findings
1. Product maturity drives newsroom success
The Census reveals a strikingly clear pattern: Product professionals at news organizations with mature product teams experience less persistent organizational challenges than their peers at news organizations with informal product teams or execution-focused roles.
According to the data, product professionals at news organizations that understand product work as strategic report:
Greater improvement in business and audience outcomes
Stronger collaboration across teams
More structured product practices
Higher leadership recognition
In contrast, organizations with no formal product team remain trapped in reactive workflows and report more severe challenges.
The consistency of the results underscores that product maturity depends on two conditions:
Structure refers to the presence of formal roles, dedicated teams, and leadership support.
Influence captures how product functions day to day—whether it’s reactive and siloed, or strategic and agenda-setting. This is related to the role type product teams held within news organizations.
2. The News Industry Is Embracing Product, But Needs Deliberate Investment To Achieve Maturity
Over the past five years, news product professionals have seen meaningful improvements in the adoption of product practices with two-thirds of respondents (67%) reporting their organizations now have a formal product team or role. They also reported significantly less progress in areas such as team capacity, role clarity, leadership recognition and support for product work.
Respondents believe structural investment in product work is a high priority for the industry in the coming years and the data backs them up. Product professionals at news organizations with both a formal product team and a dedicated product executive are:
Less challenged by resource constraints, siloed teams, resistance to change, and limited access to data.
Twice as likely to say the product team operates as a strategic leader, rather than serving only an execution-focused support role.
More likely to benefit from investments in team capacity and role clarity, stronger leadership support, and structured product practices.
These findings reinforce a key message: product is not a support function—it is a core strategic discipline, and investing in its leadership is essential to the future of journalism.
3. Culture and inclusion remain sticking points (with risks for retention)
The Census reveals a critical misalignment: career aspirations and newsroom needs are clear, but organizational support is not keeping pace. This gap is both structural and cultural—and it threatens the pipeline of future product leaders:
52% of respondents want to grow in product or leadership roles.
But only 30% are committed to staying in the news industry.
50% are open to leaving, and 15% are already considering it.
Without more inclusive leadership and clear advancement pathways, newsrooms risk losing the very professionals who are driving this transformation.
Inside, you’ll find detailed analysis, charts, and recommendations for how newsrooms can strengthen product leadership and capacity in the years ahead.
Why this matters
Product is the discipline in the newsroom most focused on creating value. It is designed to navigate audience shifts and technological disruption at the speed the next decade demands, aligning audience needs with editorial priorities, business strategy, and technology, while ensuring journalism delivers on its public service mission.
Yet the field is still maturing. Too many organizations treat product as an informal add-on rather than a leadership function. Without deliberate investment in training, capacity, and diversity, the industry risks losing momentum and the very people driving change. More importantly, it risks mistaking optimization for transformation, instead of addressing journalism’s central challenge: offering relevant and essential information to communities.
The next phase of growth for news product requires moving from recognition to institutionalization. That means:
Train for influence, not just skills
Product professionals—and the leaders they work with—need training to wield influence. Beyond technical skills, this means equipping product managers, editors, revenue leaders, and technologists with audience insight, strategy, and cross-functional decision-making skills so product thinking shapes leadership, not just operations.
Build capacity for continuous product practice
Respondents flagged capacity gaps as one of the biggest obstacles. Investment should prioritize hiring, resourcing, and creating dedicated time and processes for experimentation, iteration, and roadmap execution, so product work isn’t limited to grant cycles or side projects.
Strengthen product operations
Organizations must regularly assess and improve their people, processes, and tools to keep pace with transformation. Investment in operational frameworks—like workflow assessments, decision-making clarity, and prioritization methods—helps teams deliver at scale and speed.
Align product with trust and sustainability
Product work in journalism must deliver trust, relevance, and long-term value—not just clicks or revenue. Investment should support teams in balancing audience desirability with journalism’s civic mission, ensuring innovation drives both sustainability and public service.
These investments are not optional. Product leaders are already the ones most attuned to shifts in audience behavior and emerging technologies, and they are uniquely positioned to help news organizations connect vision to execution. Supporting them means more than operational efficiency—it means strengthening journalism’s capacity to adapt quickly, build trust, and deliver value that keeps it relevant and resilient for the future.
Authorship & Acknowledgements
This report was written and edited by Becca Aaronson and Felicitas Carrique, Chief Product Officer and Executive Director of The News Product Alliance, respectively. It also counted on the support of the News Product Alliance Team and Board of Directors.
Research design and analysis were led by Becca Aaronson, with survey design and preliminary analysis by Carla Nudel.
We are grateful to Damon Kiesow and to Patrick Boehler for their thoughtful review and feedback.
Most importantly, we thank the NPA community and the more than 500 product professionals worldwide who contributed their experiences and insights to the 2025 Census. This report would not exist without your generosity and candor.
